Nothing pleases auto insurance broker Mathias Spottke more than an empty waiting room.

Running his auto insurance company Spottke Versicherungen in Berlin since 2001, Mathias definitely likes to be busy. But these days, in-person visits are not his preferred method.

Nearly all of Spottke Versicherungen’s clients are immigrants from Turkey and the Middle East, and most of them communicate via WhatsApp. At their urging, he downloaded the WhatsApp Business app in the spring of 2018.

This decision, Mathias says, transformed his business.

Using the WhatsApp Business app to exchange documents and files with his customers, he estimates the app has reduced paperwork for the business by 95 percent, and that his customer base has grown around 20 percent.

“It saves me like tens of thousands of Euros in time and headaches”

Mathias used to have as many as 30 customers waiting at his office every day, with hours-long wait times.

“In the office, I sometimes had to wait two hours,” says a customer who purchased auto insurance from Mathias. “Now, I can reach him in a second.”

Today, Mathias says he sees only 10 people in person and receives up to 30 customer WhatsApp messages, daily.

“It saves me like tens of thousands of Euros in time and headaches,” explains Mathias.

The WhatsApp Business app’s business profile helps customers learn about Spottke Versicherungen more easily, and given the nature of his business, Mathias primarily uses the app on his desktop computer, where it is easier to send documents.

“Now I write Herr Spottke, and the next day, the insurance is ready. I don’t need to come in,” says Erhan Rashid, who runs a car rental business and used to travel an hour once a week to meet with Mathias.

The WhatsApp Business app’s impact on Spottke Versicherungen is clear. Gone are the days of an office packed full of customers waiting to buy auto insurance. Instead, a sign on the office door signals a new way of doing business: “Don’t want to wait a long time?” it says. “Spottke is now on WhatsApp.”